A Different Sort of Mission
by TheDimensionOfWords
Summary: Cas is looking for Dean. Instead he finds himself with Sam, who is sneaking and volunteering at a little animal shelter. Cas decides to tag along.


_Castiel the angel appeared in the noble Impala in search of Dean Winchester the hunter._

Instead he found Sam, who flinched at the sudden appearance before his face turned into an easy smile. "Hey Cas," he said brightly, turning down the radio which was playing something that would probably send Dean into a fit.

"Hello," Cas responded, contemplating this turn of events.

"Looking for Dean?" Sam asked, glancing at him briefly before focusing on the road.

"I was, but it is unimportant," Cas said, focusing his gaze on Sam's expressions.

"Oh," Sam murmured, plunging them into awkward silence.

Castiel thought he might have caught a bit of disappointment in the younger Winchester's voice, and he realised how little he had seen Sam outside of cases. "...Where are we going?" Cas asked, breaking it after some minutes, as he studied the suburbs of a little city passing by the windows.

"We?"

Cas just shrugged, settling a bit in the passenger seat, causing a genuine, little smile to tug at the edges of Sam's lips.

"Well," Sam lowered his voice in a conspiring manner, even if there was only the two of them in the car. Cas was not sure if he would ever be used to such odd human mannerisms, but didn't bring out its pointlessness. "I told Dean I had a date, because you know we have been in this town for a little longer than usual..."

"But the date is a lie," Cas stated, confused and trying to figure out where this was leading.

"Yeah," Sam sighed, a happy smile on his face. "I have been volunteering at a little animal shelter. See we found a cat whose family had been killed and, well, I got to drop it off and the nice old lady running it needed some help so..."

"You offered your services." Cas concluded.

Sam blushed a little. "Yep. It is kind of like having a pet for a while."

"A lot of... pets." Cas pointed out.

Samy chuckled. "It's totally awesome. You want to join me? You can't tell Dean though, at least not until we leave this county."

Cas pondered, and while he hated to keep things from Dean, he didn't see how this could do any harm. "I will... accompany you on your mission," he affirmed, and Sam beamed.

~(*)~

They pulled up to the quaint shelter, a couple cars of prospective pet owners in the lot. Sam bounded out and headed for the door, glancing back to make sure Cas was following. They entered with the tingle of the bell on the door and an elderly lady looked up from her spot at the front desk. She smiled, standing to come around.

"It is good to see you back here dear," she reached her hand up to give Sam's cheek a pat. She then caught sight of Cas. "Did you bring a friend?"

Sam nodded. "I hope that's okay."

"No problem, you can take the dogs out for a walk all at once," she smiled. "I assume you have the routine down?"

"Yes ma-am!"

"Alright, hurry along now, the pups are waiting for you."

~(*)~

"She seemed very nice," Cas commented as Sam lead him to the dog area. "Good soul."

"She has been running this place since she was able to retire," Sam smiled a bit wistfully. "She did her job, and is now able to give back."

"Your job is one based on making the world a better place," Cas said, catching on to some of the hidden meanings within Sam's words.

Sam's nose crinkled though. "Yeah, but you don't have to live your life in a gray moral area constantly when you run a shelter."

"You would like to run a shelter?" Cas asked, confused.

Sam just sighed and he tried to make sound like a laugh, if a half hearted one. "Sure. Better than ganking monsters."

"This current case isn't going well," Cas pieced together. "Are you and Dean in an argument?"

"Yes, and no...I don't know." Sam ran a hand through his hair. Cas squinted at him, and once more they entered an awkward silence. Sam finally shook his head, and pushed opened the door so they entered a room of large cargs and happy barking.

Cas set his head to one side, "What are we to do?"

"First, we walk them. Then we feed them and get them fresh water." Sam headed over to a wall covered in leashes. It wasn't a big shelter, so there were only about ten dogs at this time. Sam took six of them, after harnessing the four most gentle or elderly dogs to their leashes and giving them to Cas. When he came back with his group, he found Cas sitting in the middle of his four, petting and talking to them. His serious expression was still in place, so that the whole scene was ridiculous to see the angel in, as the dogs wagging and stepping on his trench coat. Sam had to suppress his laughter, but he managed to snap a picture of the scene to share with Dean later.

"Ready?" he called, keeping a firm stance as his dogs tugged eagerly for the door.

"Yes," Cas stood in a graceful motion, following Sam and his pack out the back door.

~(*)~

They walked around the neighborhood to the local park, Sam trying to teach Cas how to pick up dog poop. Cas just looked around and made it disappear with his angel powers, looking unimpressed at the little bags.

At the park, Sam's dogs pulled him all over, while Cas' had him walking at a slow pace to sniff everything. Cas looked up as he heard Sam's laughter echoing across the park; a true, honest laugh. Cas felt a little smile grow on his own face, the Winchesters never laughed as much as other humans did. He didn't like that fact, but it made it special when they did.

All too soon they made their way back, and finished up the other chores. Cas continued talked to the dogs in a totally serious voice, and Sam would have teased him for it if he himself wasn't baby talk at them himself. It ended up probably being really good Dean wasn't there, or he would have had a whole new arsenal for teasing.


End file.
